"They threatened to burn down my house. They knew my real name, they knew where I lived," said the farmer. "It is because I participated in demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad."

Rushing home, he gathered together his wife and six children. Leaving all possessions behind, they joined a party of families – dozens of them – making a bid for the Lebanese border.

As the Syrian army clears the final remnants of resistance in Babr Amr, residents have reported that the brutal offensive is turning its focus on surrounding villages and the border town of Al Qusayr.

A growing wave of growing violence has seen a fearful hysteria grip the population who are swapping rumours of daily acts of human atrocities being committed around them. "They would rape my wife and my children if they caught us," one refugee told the Daily Telegraph.

More than a quarter of Abu Hassan's village has already fled into Lebanon in the last two weeks and families in neighbouring towns are doing the same.

"Usually, it is the Free Syrian Army who is responsible for helping civilians reach the border," said the farmer. "But they have already fled from our village. Tank shells were hitting so close to us and there was no one to help."

What was once a pleasant hour-long hike across the rolling hills and mountains that delineate the boundary with northern Lebanon has turned now into a perilous 20km route that avoids roads riddled with Syrian and Lebanese military checkpoints, minefields and open ground.

"We waded through muddy fields and walked on winding roads through shrub land to come here," said Abu Hassan.

It is becoming ever more difficult to escape. Syrian government troops bombed a bridge on Tuesday, destroying one of the only routes to the border from populous Al Qusuayr.

And there is little discrimination between civilian and Free Syrian Army targets, reported Abu Mohammed an activist from that city helping families across the border which in places splits villages in two and is marked only by the thickness of a road.

"I brought the families through the built-up areas. It was too dangerous to be on exposed territory. There is a four-metre gap on the border between buildings in Syria and buildings inside Lebanon. Running across this gap, the army often opens fire. Many of the refugees hide with families in the nearby Lebanese village of Aarsal."

For the refugees however their ordeal does not stop in Lebanon.

Some of the stop off points to safety are deep in the heartland of Hizbollah, fierce supporters of the Syrian regime. The refugees live in continuous fear of persecution.

Yesterday the Telegraph was taken to a safe house where men, women and children recently arrived milled in bare rooms with only a thin carpet to separate them from the cold concrete floor. A stove in the centre emitted a weak heat, hardly battling against the bitter temperatures outside.

Many were too frightened to even show their faces. Others simply cried rather than talk.

One man who had recently made the journey told the Telegraph that 150 families were waiting on the Syrian side of the border for safe passage. But the Lebanese army was arresting those who tried while the Syrian Army was firing on others.